Apple A6 reportedly a custom ARM CPU, PowerVR SGX 543MP3, 1GB of RAM

At the iPhone 5 event on September 12, Apple not only announced a new iPhone, but also a new system-on-a-chip (SoC) sequentially named the Apple A6, While we'd heard about this new chipset prior to the event, we hadn't heard anything specific. Rumors ranged from an updated, higher clocked version of last year's dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based Apple A5 with a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, to a bleeding edge ARM A15 and PowerVR 6 "Rogue". Turns out the Apple A6 is nothing as conservative or futuristic as either of those things -- it's something even more exciting. It's Apple's first custom-designed ARM chipset. Anand Lal Shimpi of Anandtech did some investigating and came up with what he believes are the details:

The A6 is the first Apple SoC to use its own ARMv7 based processor design. The CPU core(s) aren't based on a vanilla A9 or A15 design from ARM IP, but instead are something of Apple's own creation. [..] The deeper machine plus much wider front end and execution engines drives both power and performance up.

He also puts it at 32nm. He isn't clear on the number cores yet, but give the realities of power/performance Apple wants to hit, the same logic seems to dictate dual-core as still being the sweet spot. Licensing the instruction set (ARMv7) rather than the specific processor (like Cortex A9 or A15) is an interesting move for Apple. It's similar to what Qualcomm for the Krait.

As for that GPU, he pegs it at a PowerVR SGX 543MP3 clocked "marginally" higher:

The [PowerVR SGX 543MP3] is sort of the best of both worlds. You don't take a huge die area penalty and at the same time don't run at a significantly higher frequency, and you can get to that same 2x value. The third option is the most elegant and likely what Apple chose here. Remember that overall die size is dictated by the amount of IO you have around the chip.

Apple has always branded their versions of ARM chipsets, with the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS all bearing the logo if not the name. With the iPad (and later iPhone 4), Apple introduced the Apple A4 and the line took on a public naming convention. That continued with the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S SoC, named Apple A5, and the iPad 3 SoC, named Apple A5X. Through the years, Apple also bought chip companies PA Semi and Intrisity, hired and later let go IBM chip-whiz Mark Papermaster, hired and later let go Jim Keller, and others.

Making their own ARM chipset instead of licensing one would be the ultimate extension of Apple's desire to make the whole widget, bit to atom. It's something that makes a lot of sense, but felt like it might have been a year or two away still. Not so. If Anand Lai Shimpi is right. it starts now.

Reader comments

Apple A6 reportedly a custom ARM CPU, PowerVR SGX 543MP3, 1GB of RAM

Rene, somewhat off topic, but I am surprised imore and other mainstream sites do not have any articles on hands on time with the phone. I remember with the 4s, most sites ( can't remember if you did) had a hands on preview from the hands on session after the announcement. I am really curious to see if there is a distinct difference in speed from the 4s, based on the specs and this artile.

TheVerge and AnadTech both had hands ons - it is noticeably more nimble than a 4 or 4S. They mention it and its obvious in the videos. Can't wait! I thought custom SOCs from Apple were at least another year away, this is fantastic!

Hey Rene...
Couple of typos towards the end there... in the penultimate paragraph it should say the "iPad 3 SoC, named A5X." and the first sentence of the final paragraph should say "ARM" not "AMR".
Cheers,
the web editor...

Anand is speculating in the article, but here you present the speculation as fact. He goes through 4 possible scenarios for the claims made about graphics at the 9/12 event, and hones in on one as as the most likely option. You ought to specify that you're reporting another blogger's speculation rather than a fact.

It's been benchmarked already (apparently) on Geekbench at around 1600, according to geekbench it is a dual core processor at 1Ghz, however it outperforms the GalaxyS3, it gets about 1500 (4 cores at 1.5Ghz) just to put this on perspective, the first MacBook Air got a little over 2000 back in 2008. A cheap netbook with an Intel atom processor gets less than 1000, I just think that it is an insane amount of computational power in a 110grams device.